Asian Games: India crosses historic 100-medal mark for first time as women’s kabaddi team grabs gold

Hangzho: India made history by crossing the 100-medal mark in overall medals for the first time in the history of the Asian Games in the 19th edition of the Continental multi-nations, multi-discipline sports extravaganza that was first proposed and first hosted by India in New Delhi in 1951.

India’s 100th medal was a gold won by the women’s kabaddi team that defeated Chinese Taipei 26-25 in the final in Hangzhou.

India’s 100 medals in Hangzhou include 25 gold, 35 silver and 40 bronze. Of these 100 medals, male participants have won 47 medals (12-17-18) while women have claimed 44 (9-18-19) while seven have come in mixed events.

India had 95 medals at the end of competitions on Friday night with the men’s hockey team winning the gold medal by beating Japan in the final.

On Saturday, Aditi Gopichand Swamy added a bronze and then Jyothi Surekha Vennam won the gold in the Compound Women’s Individual archery competition to take the count to 97.

Ojas Pravin Deotale and Abhishek Verma bagged gold and silver respectively in theCompound Men’s Individual archery to take the count to 99. The women’s kabaddi team then pushed it to the 100 mark.

This is India’s highest-ever medal haul in the Asian Games, surpassing the 70 medals that the country won in the previous edition of the Games in Indonesia in 2018.

–IANS